My Foxface and Hippo Tang Fight!

[ThatAquariumKid]

Ok so today i purchased a 5 inch ( almost perfectly 5 inches) Hippo tang for a great price $30 and i went home, acclimated him and had no problems. What i did not realize is that my Faxface is literally the exact same size!!! At first they were fine together. they actually swam around the tank in unison. And then after taking a nap for like an hour i went back to my tank to find my fox face biting the side of my tang pretty aggressively. the tang basically crawled under my huge clam and hid. so i removed the hippo tang and i have him in a acrylic specimen container with holes cut in it, hanging from the side of my tank, ( the container is in the tank and the fish can swim around a bit). So, my question is what to do? i will try anything and everything so suggestions are welcome and needed.

 

[crobattt]

just let em in there, it will usually calm down over a few hours.

 

[Ariel00]

Take out the fox face and put him in the specimen container. It gives the tang time to adjust to his new home stress free

 

[ThatAquariumKid]

can the fox face kill the tang? he doesn't usually go for the fins so i think it will be ok. thanks

 

[crobattt]

a foxface can probably kill just about any fish it wanted too, you do know they have venom right? either venom or poison i think

 

[ThatAquariumKid]

i understand they have venom but that is in their spines. my fox face is nipping. and i cannot catch the fox face unfortunately. He is just too fast, and my tank has too many caves. so my new plan though is to add in the tang at night once my lights have been off for like 3 hours. then i will observe their behavior and adjust the plan as needed

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

so my new plan though is to add in the tang at night once my lights have been off for like 3 hours. then i will observe their behavior and adjust the plan as needed

I think this is your best bet, although you probably don't have to wait three hours - one should be more than enough. After the prior initial bout of establishing a pecking order, they may settle down and get along once they have a few subdued hours in the dark. I have had that happen a number of times and generally introduce fish close to lights out time.

 

[ThatAquariumKid]

well i added the fish, the lights have been out for about 45 mins. i added the tang once the fox face turned a specly color that he always does at night. they have not touched each other, so hopefully in the morning they will stay that way.

 

[rpjaws74]

Usually the aggression only lasts a couple hours to 1 or 2 days then you should be fine. U sually!!!

 

[reeferstace]

What size tank are these fish in? Why didn't you QT the hippo tang?

 

[ThatAquariumKid]

Quarantine

Quarantine

I don't have a qt in my house so I had my LFS put him in a separate tank for me and came in and watched him feed and so on. My lfs and I are pretty tight so it wasn't a big deal

 

[Daniel Reef]

Are the Foxface and the Hippo in your 55g tank?

 

[small alien]

Gong!

 

[ThatAquariumKid]

you know what, they actually get alone quite well now. I am amazed. the fox face just needed to prove his dominance i guess. but thanks for all the help!

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

That may change and the hippo may become the aggressor unless you have a large tank (at least 180 gallons, and preferably larger).

You should quarantine your fish before putting them in your dt for 4-6 weeks or some day you will introduce a fish with a disease and it will wipe most of your tank out. A short period in a separate tank at the lfs isn't sufficient.